Andrews was at the Cox Convention Center on Friday night to present the league's Player of the Week award to Oklahoma City Barons defenseman Justin Schultz, and to watch what might be the most exciting team in his league thanks to the fact that the Edmonton Oilers could send their young stars, namely Jordan Eberle, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Schultz, to the AHL during the lockout.

While the NHL's loss is the AHL's gain, the AHL also needs the NHL's support, and continues to serve as a developmental league. That puts Andrews in a unique position as far as the NHL lockout is concerned. Sporting News talked to Andrews about where the league stands now, and more.

SPORTING NEWS: How is it going for the league? Is the NHL lockout providing as much of a boost as you'd expect?

DAVID ANDREWS: I think it is, especially in terms of exposure for the league from a media perspective, and with a national television opportunity in Canada every weekend, and taking a lot of those games back to the U.S. and to Europe. It's really a great opportunity for us, and one we need to take advantage of gracefully. We'll do the best we can to grow our game, and grow the awareness of our league.

Our attendance is up—we've had the strongest start we've had, ever, in the first weekend and second weekend. Normally, this time of the year is a slower period, from the time we open up until about U.S. Thanksgiving, then it starts to take off. We're seeing heightened interest, for sure, in a lot of markets—particularly those that are in NHL general markets, like Chicago. Our area of New England is doing particularly well, as well as Hamilton (Ontario) and Rochester. It's been good for us.

SN: What do you need to do, once the NHL comes back, to build on what you get out of this?

DA: Part of it is really about awareness of the league, and having fans that come in to sample our league, treat them properly, build our databases, and follow up from the business point of view. I think, from a marketing perspective, it's all about brand awareness, and the perception of hockey fans of what our league is. When you get an opportunity like this, you can raise that perception and it will have a lasting effect.

I came to this league in '94—that was my first year. We really put our league on the map between October and January that year (during another NHL lockout). It was a tremendous opportunity for us. ESPN2 was starting back then, and we were able to get games on there. Then, in ’04-05 (the last lockout), we had a huge jump in terms of perception of our league. It's not just awareness, it's perception of how good the league really is. We can throw those stats out there about having half of our players playing in both leagues each year, which they do—325 players in our league last year also played in the NHL. It's not something new to have an NHL player in the league. They're back and forth all year long. A lot of people don't realize how competitive the league is. We're getting new fans out, and it's easy to hold onto them when you've got a good product.

When the NHL comes back, we'll compete for hockey fans, and we compete with the NHL on television. One thing I believe is true is that when you see our attendance go up during a lockout, it's not NHL season-ticket holders or NHL corporate ticket holders, it's people who ordinarily watch NHL games on TV and don't have the opportunity, so they want to see it live. You hope to make an impression on those folks, provide them with a great experience, and get them to come back.

SN: You've had a few outdoor games over the past couple of years, including one with the Winter Classic last year, Hershey and Adirondack. Is that something you want to continue to do, regardless of what the NHL does?

DA: We, as a league, haven't set out to have an annual game, but last year we had the one in Philadelphia, and one in Hamilton that was sold out, and on national TV (in Canada), and had great ratings. The Hartford one (in 2011) probably was the weakest one we've had, because the weather was so bad (cold and windy). What started as a good crowd ended as about 2,500 people because it was so cold. The first one we had was in Syracuse, and that was a huge success. This year, Hershey is hosting an outdoor game, celebrating their 75th anniversary, and that will be against Wilkes-Barre, so that should be a good one. I think, on a regional level, these don't get old, so long as you don't do them in the same place every year. The opportunities are there to host them, it's good for the league. These are special platforms that allow us to grow the game and celebrate the game.

We're also scheduled to play an outdoor game with the Winter Classic again, in Detroit. Assuming that the Winter Classic goes forward, we've got Grand Rapids playing the Toronto Marlies.

SN: Is the biggest difference between your job and Gary Bettman's job the labor part?

DA: I have to do it, too. I just don't have to do it in as big a way. We have a collective bargaining agreement with our players association that we have to negotiate every three or four years. They're just not at the same magnitude, or close to the same magnitude, of what Gary has to deal with.

SN: Do you think, at least at that level, that hockey could use some separation between the guy who's running the league, and the hockey part of it, and the labor relations side of it? And how have you found it in your job?

DA: That's difficult to address. In my job, my background is much different from Gary's. I came from the hockey side of the business, as a player, and a coach, and a general manager in the American League, and into this position. I kind of learned the business side as I went along, whereas Gary brought all of that with him—a very strong background on the legal side, obviously with the NBA and his leadership there.

I don't know—someone has to take the lead role, and I think he's surrounded with good people, and he's got a business to take responsibility for. I don't know how you would separate it. It's so hard to compare the responsibilities. We work very closely with them, and I have a lot of respect for the challenges that they have. I think, in terms of the challenges we have, it's probably far easier for me to maintain relationships and build relationships amongst all of our stakeholders than it is for Gary, because you do want to address the labor relations issue. For us, our economics are more closely tied to our arrangements with NHL teams than with the players association. My job is much more on the counseling side between 30 NHL teams and 30 AHL teams than with the players association.

When it's time to work with the players association, we do, and we've built a good relationship where they try to help us to grow our league and grow the game.

SN: You have hybrid icing this year. It's not the first time you've tetsted rules for the NHL. How is this one going?

DA: Perfect. I have had nothing but positive feedback from coaches, from players, from scouts. It's going really well. We're going to evaluate it on Nov. 19, when we meet with the competition committee, and we'll get feedback from NHL general managers, but I expect we'll leave it in for the rest of the year.

DA: I couldn't even imagine it, simply because of the economics involved between the two leagues. We moved one of our markets into the NHL—we didn't move them, but the Winnipeg Jets, we had the Manitoba Moose in the same ownership, same building, almost the same coaching staff. Could it be done? Yes, but very few of our markets could sustain the NHL cost structure.

SN: And there probably aren't many NHL teams that would ever be up for participating in that system.

DA: It's pretty hard to tell your fan base that you're going to go play in the American League now. You'd probably have to change your season-ticket prices a little bit.